Twitter removes device labels from tweets in its latest update

Last month, Elon Musk said that Twitter would 'finally cease adding what device a tweet was made on,' calling the function a 'waste of screen space & compute.' In November, in response to a user's tweet, Musk said, 'And we will finally stop including the device on which a tweet was written below each tweet.'

Aditi T

First Published Dec 18, 2022, 1:25 PM IST | Last Updated Dec 18, 2022, 1:25 PM IST

In a recent development, Twitter will no longer display the device from which the tweet was posted, whether it was from iPhone, an Android device or the Twitter web. The new owner Elon Musk has posted a tweet from Pubity, sharing the information with the caption, 'Hallelujah!!'

Last month, Musk said that the company would 'finally cease adding what device a tweet was made on,' calling the function a 'waste of screen space & compute.' In November, in response to a user's tweet, Musk said, 'And we will finally stop including the device on which a tweet was written (a waste of screen space and compute) below each tweet. Nobody has any idea why we did that...'

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Many Twitter users applaud the move, and some even share memes about how Samsung once tweeted about their Galaxy Unpacked Event from an iPhone. Another company, Huawei, was at the centre of two notorious 'Twitter for iPhone' blunders.

Twitter itself highlights the benefit of the feature in a publicly accessible guide, saying that these 'tweet source labels' not only help users understand how a tweet was made but also provide important context about messages. For example, if a tweet were labelled as a 'Mastodon-Twitter Crossposter,' it would be evident that it had been published on Twitter and the social network Mastodon.

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As per Twitter's Help Centre, "Tweet source labels assist you in understanding how a Tweet was posted. This extra information gives context to the Tweet and its author. If you don't recognise the source, you should investigate further to determine how much you trust the information."

Earlier today, the new Twitter CEO, who suspended and later restored the accounts of more than a half-dozen prominent journalists, announced that Twitter will now include mute and block signals for Blue Verified.

Also read: 'Criticizing me is totally fine but...' Elon Musk after Twitter suspends top journalists' accounts

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